Paronioa or reality? How can i tell?

[Hottie]

how can i tell the difference, from something that i think actully happened or just me being paroniod?

Something happened on saturday night and i am only after thinking about it now. I dont know if what i was hearing was just me being paroniod or not.

I know SA can add to paronioa and so can drugs...but there is some reason i am sure it was real...

Aww i know with the way my mind obsesses about these little things, this will play on my mind...

*confused*

 

[eek]

how can i tell the difference, from something that i think actully happened or just me being paroniod?

Depends alot on the situation. In my experience though, I obsess over details nobody even knows existed.

 

[DeadCities]

Well it depends on the situation, like what your mood was at the time, anxiety level, if you were intoxicated etc. The best thing to do is look at what happened rationally and without a bias like "I think they I heard them say something about someone being ugly, I think I'm ugly so they must be talking about me". And so on. If you think the situation through most of the time you'll realize afterwords you were just overreacting.

 

[Hottie]

Thanks, i obsess about the littlest things, and this is nothing different.

I still believe what happened did, but i suppose there i no way i can find out so im going to have to forget about it...

 

[WeirdyMcGee]

I tend to ask any witnesses of what happened for their opinions before I jump to any horrible conclusions (although I usually still feel paranoid- at least I know I'm being paranoid then- if everyone else who was there think nothing of what happened)

 

[Hottie]

I a supposed to be meeting up with a friend later today who was there. I will ask them about what (i think) happened!

Paronoia will destroy ya!!!

 

[bigcat1967]

I get paranoid as well. What I do is whenever my mind gets that way - I just tell mhyself that I'm going through paranoia again. It sometimes help.

 

[Sinar_Matahari]

What I do if I'm not sure whether I imagined something is I don't dwell on it. If I dwell on something long enough, I get carried away and the unlikely becomes reality.

 

[coyote]

invest in a small digital camcorder

and record all of your activities

then you have proof



and possibly some content for a pay-for-porn website

 

[Hottie]

invest in a small digital camcorder

and record all of your activities

then you have proof



and possibly some content for a pay-for-porn website

Aww never thought of that !!
Could make some money for all my no-good anticks !!

::

 

[twiggle]

You've just asked the question which plagues me the most!

The worst thing is when you finally start believing something is "just paranoia"... but then it winds up to be reality! Then next time you feel paranoid about something its harder to try and convince yourself that you're "just being paranoid"

Sorry, this answer is probably of no help whatsoever! But I hope things can become clearer for you when you meet with your friend.

 

[Hottie]

You've just asked the question which plagues me the most!

The worst thing is when you finally start believing something is "just paranoia"... but then it winds up to be reality! Then next time you feel paranoid about something its harder to try and convince yourself that you're "just being paranoid"

Sorry, this answer is probably of no help whatsoever! But I hope things can become clearer for you when you meet with your friend.

Hey hey!!

I met with my friend yesterday. She told me i was just being paro but she also said it with a small grin on her face......which made me paro she was lying !!

It never ends ha !!!

 

[twiggle]

Hey hey!!

I met with my friend yesterday. She told me i was just being paro but she also said it with a small grin on her face......which made me paro she was lying !!

It never ends ha !!!

Oh no, thats annoying!!

Still, I like to tell myself that if these things were anything major, then you'd know about it for sure and wouldn't have to question anything, you'd just KNOW

 

[Feathers]

Ha! You can write out the thoughts and 'worst case scenario' and do CBT on it? Like, look for reality/validity of the thoughts etc. Or even do EFT: kinda like 'Even if this really happened - what would that mean? What's the worst that could be a result of that?' and then go see what you could do to combat that? Or how you could change your attitude/thinking etc?
It's well described in The Feeling Good Handbook how to do that..

For example 'even if I danced on the table, what would this really mean?' thoughts: 'people I was with could hate me forever' (apparently not, you checked reality of that already: your friend still likes you apparently - maybe even more??)

If it's something like maybe doing something stupid with someone unprotected, you could go get std tests or such...? even if you did get something, you could get treated, etc. Or you could go to a support group of people with that, or even run one...?

 

[Hottie]

Thanks for the tips Feathers, very helpful they were...you seem very wise and have great insight!!

And dont worry i didnt sleep with someone on saturday ha!!

 

[Lostinthemusic]

I was somewhat recently in a similar situation. I was at my neighbors house and there was a girl there I didn't know. I couldn't explain what my thought process was at that exact time as I wasn't sober. But the two days following I convinced myself they had thought I was gay and that they had brought in the girl to try and get me to admit it.

I later confronted them about it (kind of, it was via text of all things). I get the sense they all thought I was crazy, which would be ok if I could talk to them more about it, but I haven't been able to. I also get the sense that my relationship with them, and my roommates had deteriorated because of this.

I would say good call with just asking one person. I wouldn't have been able to stand keeping it all in, but didn't have someone I felt I could trust.

Hope everything turned out well for you!